Word Origin & History

clean O.E. clæne "clean, pure," from W.Gmc. *klainoz "clear, pure," from PIE base *gel- "to gleam" (cf. Gk. glene "eyeball," O.Ir. gel "bright"). As an adj., replaced in higher senses by clear, pure, but as a verb (c.1450) it has largely usurped what once belonged to cleanse. The adj. clean in the sense of "innocent" is from c.1300; that of "not lewd" is from 1867; that of "free of drug addiction" is 1950s. To take (someone) to the cleaners "get all of (someone's) money" is from 1932

Example Sentences for cleaned out

Why, your mother's cleaned out all my pockets a dozen times since.

The stomach and bowel are overloaded: they must be cleaned out.

Hadn't he heard it said at the time of the Travancore and Deccan smash that poor Whalley had been cleaned out completely.

I think it was a pig-tub, but I had it cleaned out and washed.

I'd been cleaned out o' everything I had by a man I trusted, and I was flat broke.

We cleaned out a gang of gorillas afore we had this scrimmage in the road.

We must have cleaned out some of these farms but it was either that or starve.

Unfortunately, our well water has not been sweet since it was cleaned out.

Oroville boasts that it has never surrendered and that it has never been cleaned out.

Then the core of masonry would be cleaned out, and the room was ready for use.